March 20, 1915 
LAND AND WATER 
THROUGH THE EYES OF A WOMAN 
By MRS. ERIC DE RIDDER 
The Change in Things 
THROUGH the nature of things, on account of 
our geographical position and because of our 
national character, the war has seemed to many 
an onlooker to leave England untouched. Visitors 
from France have found it difficult to reconcile 
the sight of London going on serenely, much the same as 
usual, with the fact of a great nation fighting for her very 
existence. It is, of course, intensely difficult for 'them to 
understand, and it can hardly 
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be expected that they would. 
The change in the nation — 
for a change there is — is far 
too subtle for any foreign 
mind to understand. It does 
not matter how close may be 
the bonds of union between 
two nations or how inter- 
mingled their interests may 
be. Certain manners and 
customs in the one are bound 
to be as a sealed book to the 
other. It cannot in the very 
essence of things be other- 
wise. So it comes to pass 
that it is only we who are 
living in the centre of things 
who can understand them 
as they are. We can see tlie 
change in the men who have 
joined Kitchener's Army. It 
has happened in front of our 
very eyes. Men who have 
spent aU their days before in 
office and shop, some of whom 
spent nearly all their time in 
underground rooms away 
from sunshine and fresh air, 
have become changed beings. 
They have grown, they have 
straightened, they have filled 
out. They are leading a life 
at last — not an existence. It 
needs but the briefest glimpse 
of the faces as one of the new 
battalions swings through the 
streets on a route march to 
prove this. Has the war come 
as the liberator of thousands 
of men from lives that were 
not worth the living ? One 
wonders. In any case, it is 
hard to believe that when 
once it is over they wiU settle 
down to the old drab routine 
once more. They are playing the greater game, and the old 
limitations are fading in consequence. Nobody can wish 
them back or regret this change the war has brought. In 
this particular way its influence is golden, and even a drab 
routine should melt beneath the glow. 
Those Who Stay at Home 
The frame of mind of the non-combatant population is 
more difficult to gauge. To the foreign temperament it 
must be baffling, if not indecipherable. We, of course, know 
from our personal experience that this war has bitten deep 
into the lives of the greater majority of people. We know 
that in scores of cases it has left traces which will never 
pass away from the lives of those it has seared. We realise 
that days yet to come will bring this branding iron into 
many a home as the casualty lists grow bigger. We see 
numbers of people being called upon to display courage and 
fortitude to an almost unlimited extent ; we are witnesses 
to the way in which they do it, but are as silent in our 
admiration as they are in their grief. The discipline of war 
is no mere term, but the most tangible of realities, as many 
are proving day after day. And yet to the untrained eye it 
would certainly seem as if nothing out of the ordinary were 
happening. We can hardly blame our visitors from abroad 
if they are deceived by this lack of demonstration. We can, 
indeed, hardly wonder if they are irritated by it. It must 
be irritating — intensely so ; the least imaginative person can 
see it. Even those of our Allies who pride themselves upon 
Copyright, Madame Laliie Charles 
THE MARCHIONESS OF LINLITHGOW 
Though she is engaged with many philanthropic schemes at Hopetoun 
House, South Queensferry, Lady Linlithgow finds time to help 
in the hospital work abroad. She has raited a fund in 
aid of the French hospitals, and medical stores are 
being sent across the Channel twice a week 
their knowledge of England, her people, and their ways are 
apt to feel it. " I cannot," said a well-known Frenchman 
the other day, " understand London. If the Germans were 
as far from you as they are from Paris, if they were at 
Oxford, for instance, you might at last reahse what war 
means." A few of us perhaps do not yet realise it ; others 
who do betray the knowledge in no visible way. It is no 
wonder that the report of our indifference is a growing one. 
And yet the change this war 
is making in all our lives is an 
immense one — so immense 
that nobody can calculate it. 
Only time will give the answer 
to the sum, and perhaps it 
will never be finally supplied. 
A Letter from Belgium 
A short while ago men- 
tion was made in this article 
of the Hector Munro Ambu- 
lance Corps. Last week a 
letter was received from two 
officers in the Belgian Army, 
which I have great pleasure 
in repeating word for word. 
They ask that their names 
shall not be published, for 
reasons they themselves give, 
at the end of the letter. It 
runs as follows : 
" We have just received the 
number of Land and Water of 
the 27th of February. We read 
in this number, under the title 
" Through the Eyes of a Woman, 
Good Work in Belgium," an 
article on Lady Dorothy Feilding 
and Doctor Munro, who, since the 
beginning of the war, have been 
so devoted to all our wounded, 
and we are enchanted to see 
that through your newspaper the 
names of these two braves shall 
be known. But we both think 
that to be just you should add 
three other names to those two : 
Miss Mary Chisolm, Mrs. Gleason, 
and Mrs. Knocker. 
These three voluntary nurses 
have established their ambulance 
in Pervyse quite near the trenches. 
Pervyse is shelled every day, but, 
nevertheless, they remain and 
help day and night our wounded 
and sick men, going near the 
trenches to pick them up. Thev 
are billeted in a room in a ruined 
house, and we believe their names 
must be known as an example of 
devotion and abnegation. 
We should like you not to publish our names under this letter, 
tor we do not want these three ladies to know that we wrote you." 
Such a tribute straight from the headquarters of the Belgian 
Army shows that the fine work being done by Enghshwomen 
amongst the wounded in Belgium is fully appreciated. 
Girls' Patriotic Clubs 
The helping hand is being stretched out in all directions ; 
it is one of the cheering notes of these difficult times. Many 
signs have made it obvious that the need for girls' clubs in 
the many new military centres is a great one. Once these 
are formed they will provide a place to which girls can take 
their men friends, in which they can find books to read, 
papers to see, to say nothing of the comradeship of their 
own sex. A committee on behalf of the clubs is working 
at 33 Park Lane, W. In order to raise the necessary funds 
an alphabetical scheme has been drawn up. Twenty-six 
well-known ladies have offered to receive donations from 
those whose names have the same initial letter as their own. 
A full list of these will soon be published. Meanwhile the 
work has many influential friends to help it on its way. 
Lady Sydenham is the honorary treasurer, and Miss Emily 
Kinnaird, with her great knowledge of social work, is taking 
a leading part in the movement. 
Women's United Service Clubs 
So many leagues and societies have been founded for 
the public weal during the last few months that Lady Jellicoe 
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